Pokémon Go Players’ Perceptions on Twitter

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyze the perceptions of Pokémon Go players who tweeted about the game on their health while playing. Pokémon Go is an augmented reality exergame that requires players to travel to accomplish game goals. News outlets reported that Pokémon Go players shared on Twitter how this game had motivated them to be physically active. However, no study has been conducted to examine the actual amount of tweets expressing the players’ perceptions of the game on their health. In this study, researchers collected publicly available tweets by using an advanced search of hashtags (e.g., #PokemonGo & #walking) to get a consistent pool. Tweets were collected from one week of each month from July 2016 through January 2017. Based on grounded theory, qualitative analysis methods were used for categorization. Researchers numbered and coded the tweets to determine how players who tweeted might perceive the game as it relates to health topics. The results indicate that the most common tweets were about how Pokémon Go motivated players to increase their physical activity levels. This study serves as a base research for future in person interviews to investigate the players’ interests and motivations to be physically active.